The Vicious Cycle of Instability: Governance Crisis, Youth Mobilization, and State Violence in Post-Boluarte Peru
Abstract
This paper analyzes the immediate political turbulence following the installation of President Jose Jeri in Peru, precipitated by widespread protests in October 2025. Based on a critical case study of the documented clashes in Lima, which resulted in one civilian death and numerous injuries, the paper argues that this conflict is symptomatic of Peru’s endemic governance crisis, characterized by deep-seated corruption, rising crime, and a failure of political institutions to deliver basic security and stability. Specifically, we examine the drivers of mobilization (Gen Z, civil groups), the dynamics of the state response (police violence and tear gas), and the executive’s framing strategy—simultaneously promising investigation and seeking expanded securitization authority. The analysis concludes that Jeri’s early tenure reflects a dangerous continuity of democratic fragility where political turnover fails to resolve structural grievances, escalating the risk of violence and potentially leading to a securitization trap that undermines civil liberties.
- Introduction: Peru’s Perpetual Crisis of Legitimacy
Peru has experienced one of the most volatile periods of executive turnover in modern Latin American history. The rapid succession of presidents, often removed via congressional impeachment or mass social pressure, underscores a profound democratic deficit and a crisis of state legitimacy. The events of October 2025, culminating in the ouster of President Dina Boluarte and the swift ascension of Jose Jeri, set the stage for immediate and violent social confrontation.
Just days into his administration, President Jeri faced nationwide protests driven by a diverse coalition of actors, including young “Gen Z” protesters, transport workers, and civil groups. The core grievances driving this mobilization—rising crime, economic insecurity, and pervasive corruption—are structural failures that permeate the political system, regardless of who occupies the presidential palace.
This paper addresses the following research question: How does the initial confrontation between the new Peruvian government (President Jeri) and protesting civil society reflect the persistent structural weaknesses of Peruvian democracy, particularly regarding state authority and the management of dissent?
Our central thesis is that the deadly clashes in Lima on October 16, 2025, represent a critical juncture where long-term structural grievances converge with the immediate collapse of political trust. The new administration’s attempt to manage the crisis—by contrasting a promise of objective investigation with a simultaneous pursuit of expanded executive power for public safety—highlights a strategic pivot toward securitization rather than genuine political reform.
- Theoretical Framework: Democratic Fragility and the Securitization Trap
2.1 Hyper-Presidentialism and Political Instability
Peru’s political system is often described through the lens of hyper-presidentialism coupled with a historically weak party structure (Levitsky & Way, 2010). This structure facilitates the rapid removal of leaders, creating institutional incoherence. The frequent turnover (e.g., Boluarte’s ouster) satisfies immediate public anger but fails to dismantle the entrenched corruption networks that fuel instability. Consequently, each new administration inherits the same crisis of legitimacy, forcing leaders to govern under perennial threat of popular uprising. The chant, “Everyone must go!”, observed during the Lima protests, illustrates this deep distrust in the entire political class, not just the individual executive.
2.2 Grievance Mobilization and the Role of Youth
The protests are driven by both conventional and emerging actors. The involvement of transport workers signals traditional economic grievances related to cost of living and labor conditions. Crucially, the participation of Gen Z protesters highlights the role of youth mobilization responding to profound systemic frustration (Tarrow, 1998). For younger generations, corruption and economic precarity translate into a lack of socio-economic opportunity, fueling a rejection of established political norms and accelerating the use of direct action.
2.3 State Violence and the Securitization Trap
When regimes face pervasive challenges to their political legitimacy, they often resort to strategies of securitization (Buzan et al., 1998). Instead of addressing accountability and reform, the government frames dissent as a national security threat perpetrated by “delinquents who infiltrated a peaceful demonstration to sow chaos,” as President Jeri claimed. This framing justifies the expansion of policing powers and security measures. The ensuing state violence—typified by the use of tear gas, clashes, and the fatal shooting of Eduardo Mauricio Ruiz (32)—risks trapping the regime in a cycle where repression further delegitimizes the state, stimulating renewed radicalization and protest.
- Case Analysis: The October 16th Confrontation
3.1 Catalysts and Demands
The protests in Lima and across Peru were explicitly linked to the unresolved issues that led to Boluarte’s departure: corruption and public safety (rising crime). The demonstration outside Congress served as a symbolic attack on the heart of the deeply mistrusted political establishment. The use of traditional protest tactics (rocks, burning objects) met with institutional defense mechanisms (metal barriers, tear gas), indicating a breakdown in mediated dialogue.
3.2 The Deadly Outcome and Accountability Mechanisms
The death of Eduardo Mauricio Ruiz, shot during the clash, immediately shifted the political dynamic from one of social unrest to one of state accountability. The process that followed is critical:
Ombudsman/Prosecutor Intervention: The state ombudsman’s office and the prosecutor’s office swiftly confirmed the death and launched an investigation. This institutional response is a key measure used in fragile democracies to demonstrate adherence to rule of law after incidents of state violence.
PNP Identification and Mitigation: The head of the National Police, Oscar Arriola, publicly identified the alleged shooter, Luis Magallanes, removing him from duties and confirming he was hospitalized after being physically assaulted. This rapid identification aims to isolate the incident as the action of an individual officer rather than systemic state repression, thereby managing the narrative and potentially mitigating further immediate protest escalation.
3.3 The Executive’s Dual Strategy: Contrition and Command
President Jeri’s reaction demonstrated a strategic attempt to balance public outrage with the need to assert executive authority:
Contrition and Investigation: Jeri expressed regret and promised an “objective” investigation into Ruiz’s death, fulfilling the requirement for political decorum and immediate crisis management.
Securitization Push: Simultaneously, Jeri requested “authority to legislate on public safety issues” from Congress, specifically mentioning prison reform. This move strategically exploits the public focus on “rising crime” to expand executive power. By framing public disorder as a matter of criminal delinquency rather than political dissent, Jeri attempts to delegitimize the protest movement and acquire tools potentially usable for future repression.
- Discussion: The Implications for Peruvian Governance
The October 2025 crisis demonstrates the extreme difficulty faced by any new Peruvian administration in establishing political legitimacy. The new regime is immediately confronted not by political rivals, but by a highly mobilized and hostile civil society.
4.1 Delegitimization of the Security Apparatus
Despite the PNP’s rapid removal of the officer accused of the shooting, the fact that a fatal incident occurred during a protest against the new government severely damages the administration’s ability to use the police force as a neutral instrument of order. The perception of the police as an arm of a corrupt state, reinforced by the use of lethal force against demonstrators, ensures that future reliance on security forces will be met with increased resistance and public condemnation.
4.2 The Danger of the Securitization Agenda
Jeri’s pivot toward requesting special legislative powers on public safety is a high-risk strategy. While prison reform and crime reduction are legitimate concerns, seeking extraordinary powers in the immediate aftermath of political violence suggests an emphasis on coercive control over systemic political reform. If these powers are used broadly to suppress dissent or restrict civil liberties, Jeri risks deepening the very democratic deficit that brought down his predecessor. This approach prioritizes short-term stability through force over long-term stability through institutional trust.
4.3 Policy Fragmentation and Endemic Failure
The crisis confirms that the political instability in Peru does not stem from a lack of legal mechanisms for transition, but from the inability of successive governments to tackle the root issues of corruption and economic inequality. As long as these drivers remain unaddressed, governance will be fragmented, characterized by a perpetual cycle: political crisis $\rightarrow$ regime change $\rightarrow$ immediate mass protest $\rightarrow$ state violence.
- Conclusion
The violence unleashed during the protests against President Jose Jeri in October 2025 serves as a chilling illustration of Peru’s ongoing political crisis. The new administration commenced amid immediate and deadly conflict, highlighting that the removal of one president and the installation of another is insufficient to quell deeply rooted structural grievances.
The swift death of Eduardo Mauricio Ruiz underscores the extreme risks associated with social mobilization in a context of high state fragility. While Jeri’s administration utilized official channels (Ombudsman, police investigation) to manage the immediate fallout, his simultaneous pursuit of expanded security powers suggests a preference for a securitization strategy.
For Peruvian democracy to move beyond this vicious cycle of instability, future governance must shift focus from managerial crisis control to comprehensive institutional reform. Failure to address pervasive corruption and economic insecurity will ensure that every subsequent administration begins its term facing the same urgent and potentially fatal challenges to its legitimacy.
References (Hypothetical)
Buzan, B., Wæver, O., & Wilde, J. de. (1998). Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Levitsky, S., & Way, L. A. (2010). Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. Cambridge University Press.
Tarrow, S. (1998). Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. Cambridge University Press.
The Straits Times. (2025, October 17). One dead, dozens injured as Peru’s new president faces widespread protests. [Source Article Text/Data]